Bandilang Pula
Written by: Anoymous;
Published: Bandilang Pula, Ika-12 ng Pebrero 1971;
Source:Bandilang Pula, Ika-12 ng Pebrero 1971
Markup: Simoun Magsalin.
Among the 8 basic demands presented by the Provisional Directorate in the name of the students and other sectors of the University during the period of the barricade mass actions, were those referring specifically to the DZUP radio facilities and the University Press.
It is extremely necessary to be clear with respect to these demands and their significance in the context of the national democratic cultural revolution being waged by all progressives inside and outside the campus.
Previous to the period of activist occupation, the DZUP was nothing more than a literally provincial radio station, with a very limited radius of operation, content with playing over trivial and childish programs and even readymade USIS tapes. The rest of the time was devoted to an equally trivial and sterile use of the radio by Speech associations. Fortunately, we hope that we shall be spared the unbelievable shallowness of its barely anecdotal existence from now on.
The UP Press was, previous to activist occupation, no different. The UP Press was devoted to the publication of registration programs, invitations and meal tickets, or, with regards to book publication, outside of several exemptions (such as the writings of Agoncillo or Daroy) its gallery was characterized by mediocrity, pedantry and passionate irrelevance (such as those on poultry raising or an extremely involved scientific dissertation of mosses and ferns, and the “scholarly” mendicant writings of Alex Fernandez).
The takeover of the DZUP radio last Wednesday and of the University Press the following Thursday opened up completely new uses and potentialities of these facilities.
Overnight, the DZUP became the liberated voice of the democratic commune, and the UP Press — through its initial issue of the Bandilang Pula — became the liberated Word of the militants.
Together, these resources managed by the students, besieged by fascist forces and yet protected by the barricades, began to take concerted means to give form and articulation, density and firmness to the daily struggle and life of the beleaguered Commune. Through every strategic barricade, room and rooftop and to every group and every individual ear, Radio Free Diliman weaved a solidarity both constantly surprising and unmatched in its vigor and militance. Both radio and the published word not only discussed and clarified the issues involved in the barricade action, but also exposed saboteurs and enemies of the mass actions (such as the MPKP and the Puno bandits); warned of incoming fascist forces, coordinated defenses and food supply; announced meetings, called for and heartily acknowledged contributions and aid to the students and endlessly exhorted for an increasing vigilance from the ranks of the militants.
Thus Radio Free Diliman was actively on the air for an average of 20 hours daily (twice the transmission tubes burned out due to continued use and once an anonymous source promptly donated the necessary spare part costing hundreds of pesos). Meanwhile, the fascist state continually attempted to jam the Radio of Liberation.
In response to the students militance and call for popular support, the voice of liberated Diliman, was closely listened to by large sectors of our society and, not in the least, by workers and peasants in provinces such as Bulacan, Laguna, Quezon and — thanks to an anonymous supporter who relayed the broadcasts — as far as Palawan.
Representatives of numerous groups and organizations -students, faculty members, residents, workers, peasants, jeepney drivers and fishermen — came to speak, freely and with utmost candor, to each other and to their progressive allies. They spoke of their demands, the problems, their anger, but above all, of the increasing unity and consciousness of these violated classes and sectors of our wretched society.
At the very height and intensity of the barricade actions — particularly last Tuesday and Wednesday — with sheer courage and spontaneity, the large number of students discovered the multiple bonds which held them together. The struggle testified to the unity of students, faculty residents, workers and peasants.
The militant and courageous Diliman Commune exhibited, in actions which will remain historic in their eloquence, the microcosm of the problems and the developing forces of Philippine society.